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A Marxist Approach to Shaikh Ayaz's Poetry

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 A Marxist Approach to Shaikh Ayaz’s Selected Poetry

Mubarak Ali Lashari

Abstract

This paper aims the political, social, economic and literary interpretation of the theory of
Marxism and explores that Marxism is a political and an economical ideology which emphasizes
in essence the means of production, mode of wealth distribution and the socio-economic facts of
the society which in Marxism is a scientific truth. This ideology also propagates the class
difference and the struggle for the power between the oppressors and oppressed, between the
exploiting and the exploited. And seek to establish classless society. And also to have state-
owned property in which no private/personal property is allowed to own. This political and
economical difference must result in governing thinking. Thus thinking is subservient to the
material. It is matter that shapes our conscious not conscious that makes the matter. So, man in
the system is social-animal and as a ‘being’ and nothing more. So the view of Marxism in the
evolution of society and world is to change it by revolution and on the other hand other
philosophies believe in the understanding of the world. In such a condition of restructuring the
world and society, literature cannot remain aloft of this process. Thus literature in Marxism is a
product that can be handled in the interests of class and in the propagation of State party in
Leninist Marxist Criticism. So literature also plays an important role in this connection. In the
subsequent views there are several literary figures who wrote under the influences of Marxism.
Sheikh Ayaz, a great Sindhi poet was one of those poets who accepted the ideology as a literary
dogma and wrote in the influence by and large. The early poetry of Sheikh Ayaz since 50s to 80s
seems propagating the Marxist point of view through his poems. Sheikh Ayaz depicts the class-
based picture of the society and the suffering of the underprivileged class and the exploitation of
the oppressing class in his poetry. He discusses the hunger and famine of the new generation
mounting in the houses of workers and peasants and suggests insurgency against that and not to
remain silent because silence is worse than the death. Not only he presents the scene of the
misery but he also challenges the authority and the status-quo. He exquisitely shows the way of
revolution and becomes the flag bearer of the change and optimistic ideas. Not only to this but
Ayaz directly appreciates the Marxist proponents and praises their action calling them as the
historical icons.
Introduction

This paper offers the panorama of the theory and its application on the work of literature.
The Marxist approach of Shaikh Ayaz’s poetry is the best known ground which not only gave his
poetry a highest flight in imagination but also caused his prominence in literary and political
circles. So, working on Ayaz’s this aspect is great urge of the age which cannot be overlooked.
Thus, this aspect is the primary thematic ground of his poetry.

For sake of exploring the ground in this connection, the books and internet were used as
the main sources of data collection. Particularly books and generally internet helped in this
regard significantly. During the preparation of writing this paper there came several difficulties
regarding the poetic translation of Shaikh Ayaz’s poetry. Though there are several translations of
his poetry in Urdu or Punjabi but in English it is infrequent. For the purpose, the internet search
engines were visited where only one book could be found that is of Asif Farrukhi. That book also
is not the translation of his earlier lofty works. So, it was the toughest task to find the translation
of his poetry in English. First of all language translation is a Hercules task and moreover the
translation of poetry and converting ideas from one language to another language is too difficult
to explain. So it is humbly tried to present the ideas in common words to establish my point of
view.

Moreover, it is important to describe that whatever piece of poems are given are not
complete poems but short pieces which were directly concerned with the ideology though the full
poems were lengthy ones. So the quoted verses to be considered as the part of those selected
poems. And the selected poems have been taken mainly from his two books of poetry, 1. Wijoon
Wasan Aayoon (The Clouds Rushed to Rain) and 2. Raj Ghat Te Chandd (The Moon on the Raj
Ghat) Sheikh Ayaz, it must be confessed that, did never entitle himself as the Marxist but his
poetry is full of propagation of that ideology in one way or other. It is also essential to mention
here about the Marxist approach in this short piece of research. It was first of all investigated in
‘literature review’ as what is the Marxism generally. It was seen first of all as what are general
political and economical discussions of the theory before knowing the Marxist criticism. In
continuance of that the general aspects of Marxism were investigated. Afterwards the literary
principles and criteria were discussed in which different school of thoughts like ‘Leninist’ and
‘Engelsian’ criticism were briefly introspected. Then there came to have some general but brief
aspects of knowing the ideological approach in literary text. Finally, this paper offers the aspects
of Marxism in Ayaz’s poetry as the basic theme of protesting and expressing ideological view
point.

What is Marxism?

The founders of this school of thought were two persons i.e. Karl Marx (1818-1883) a
German philosopher as Barry calls him and in words of Dalahoyde “Karl Marx was primarily a
theorist and historian” and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in Barry’s words a German sociologist
(as he would now be called). In this theory the founder Karl Marx after examining the social
organization throughout the history in scientific way perceived that human history to have
consisted of a series of struggles between classes, between oppressed and the oppressing (Barry,
2002; Dalahoyde,-; Palmer, 1997; Newton, 1988). And this class difference causes the conflict,
which in Marxism is ‘dialectical’ or the contrast in things which causes the confrontation. In this
confrontation Marx sees the progress as coming about through the struggles for power between
social classes. In the words of Birch (1989), “a Marxist position grounds social reality in a
history, struggles centered upon class and systems of production, reflecting at any given moment
a dialectical relationship between history and society.” This social reality which is ‘centred upon
class and system of production’ does not come by the projects of consciousness, in words of
Palmer (1997), “In Marxism, this is an underlying structure that determines social reality, and,
that must be grasped if social reality is to be understood.” For him, the underlying structure was
an economic one. Its foundation is natural resources, means of production, and means of
distribution, based on superstructure as ‘cultural facts’, legal and political facts’ and the base
structure or foundation as ‘socio-economic facts’.

This is the very foundation of Marxism, which declares the organization of society based on
economy. This economy fixes the status of oppressing and oppressed classes. The oppressing
class exploiting the labour force and its surplus value in creating more factories rather than
reinvesting in workers, consequently, workers will grow poorer and poorer until no short-time
patching is possible or successful. At a crisis point, revolt will lead to restructuring the society.
Thus Marxism seeks to change the world whereas other philosophies merely seek to understand
the world. Taking the advantage of owning the means of production and the means of
distribution the oppressing class bourgeois exploits the proletariat. The result of exploitation is
‘alienation’ in which workers are ‘deskilled’.

Aspects of Marxism

Marxism seeks;

 Classless society in which proletariat dictatorship be observed

 Underclass must own the means of production
 Every type of property must be state owned
 No private enterprises be allowed
 Natural political evolution involving (and would in future involve) “feudalism” leading to
“bourgeois capitalism” leading to “socialism” and finally to “utopian communism”
 To look concrete, scientific, logical explanation of the world of observable facts. Its
opposite is idealist philosophy which does believe in ‘spiritual world’
 The belief about culture , known as economic determinism, is a central part of traditional
Marxist thinking
 Man is a social being-an anti-modernist approach
 Line of demarcation between the bourgeois (superstructure) and the proletariat (base
structure)
 It is matter that shapes the conscious not the vice-versa
 Where you stand depends on where you sit
 Thought is subservient to, and “follows” the material conditions under which it develops

Marxism and Literature

It is generally observed that the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, did
not directly put forward any comprehensive theory of literature. And their views seem relaxed
and undogmatic in this regard (Barry, 2002). Nevertheless according to general Marxism, the
literature in question is directly or indirectly the reflection of social organizations, from which it
is created and is itself an ideological function to propagate the interests of the class and that
literature, shows that to what extent the literary texts, the product of the historical period in
which they were written (Bertens, 2001; Newton, 1988; Dalahoyde -). On the other hand the
‘Leninist’ Marxist criticism takes harder line in the literature.

The 1930s saw reaction throughout the whole of Soviet society, and the State began
to exert direct control over literature and the arts as well as everything else. At the first Soviet
writers’ Congress in 1934 liberal views were outlawed and a new orthodoxy imposed, based on
the writings of Lenin rather than those of Marx or Engels. Lenin had argued in 1905 that
literature must become an instrument of the party. ‘Literature’, he said, ‘must become Party
literature…..Literature must become part of the organized, methodical, and unified labours of the
social-democratic party’.

On the other hand ‘Engelsian Marxist Criticism’ has no such hard-line dogma regarding the
literature. Engelsian kind of criticism stresses the necessary freedom of art from direct political
determinism (Barry, 2002). So, Marxism sees literature created not in accordance with timeless
artistic criteria, but as ‘products’ of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that
era. Because conscious is subservient to material which is determining force or ‘motored’ by the
competition for economic, social, and political advantage. On the other hand the capitalist
society of ‘intrinsic’ and ‘extrinsic’ criticism in the west has been founded on a base of
exploitation, and as a consequence Marxist analysis of that society is effectively cantered on
conflict of one form or another (David Birch, 1989).

Aspects of Marxist Criticism

By and large Marxist literary criticism takes some of the following points to underline a
piece of literature in its criteria’

 A relational and con(text) based study of literature

 What role does class play in the work; what is the author’s analysis of class relations?
 How do characters overcome?
 In what ways does the work serve as propaganda for the status quo; or does it try to
undermine it?
 What does the work say about oppression; or are social conflicts ignored or blamed
elsewhere?
  Does the work propose some vision as a solution to the problems in the work?
 If the world literature is taken as a signifier, its signified is ideology
 Literature cannot be defined without class-consciousness
 Even the genres of literature belong to different social classes i.e. tragedy for royal class,
epic as a chivalrous heroes, sonnet as of shepherd, ballad as the rustic & middle class,
novel for urban & middle class and comedy for landlords.

The legendry poet of Sindhi language and one of the greatest scholars of twentieth century
Shaikh Ayaz (1923-1997) whose original name is Shaikh Mubarak Ali using the pen-name as
Shaikh Ayaz, is the author of approximately 75 books, of which more than 50 has been published
so far. He has great mark on Sindhi language and literature. He composed his poetry almost in all
literary genres. He not only composed lofty and immortal poems but also wrote in prose so
excellently. He used conventional metres of the language in classical genres as well as in modern
poetry and devised new experiences in metres. In regard of theme Shaikh Ayaz worked less or
more almost on all subjects from universal to territorial, from humanism to patriotism etc. but the
bulk of his poetry in his early span of poetic life in 50s, 60s,70s and 80s he wrote under the
influence of leftist thinking. He has taken the influence of the Marxism of the age in his poetry
challenging the authority as well as denying the status-quo and suggested masses to stand up for
their rights and have struggle against the ruling class. Although he never believed himself as the
part of that political authority or party obviously and often denied the approach yet his much
poetry is stooped down to have that thinking. It is worth mentioning that in his last age after 90s
he turned to become stalwart of the religion rejecting the previous poetry and thoughts but that
poetry was now part of history.

In the pinnacle of poetry Ayaz is in the words of Farrukhi was firebrand in approach. Ayaz
addressed all the local and international issues of the age in the interests of mankind and
progressive movement in which Marxist approach can clearly be observed. His belief like
Marxism to change the world can be seen in the poem:

Pahenji jeary yaro

Inqilab achno aahi;

 Ka ta jang theany aa,

Korr ji naqeeban san;

Jan wary guzarni aa,

Umer tan ajeeban san.

Chup chup rahan kestain

Khamoshi azab aahi

Mout khan be badtar aa

Zindagi azab aahi.

In azab jo hani

Ko hisab achno aa

Pahenji jeary yaro

Inqlab achno aa.

(In our life revolution is to come. There is to wage a war with the proponents of fraud, it looks
like again to live with such fellows. How long we remain silent! Silence is tortuous and our life
is worse than the death. For such torture there comes calculation, in our life revolution is to
come.)

In the above poem there is clear optimistic approach of changing the world and getting rid of
the cruelty and exploitation which is one of the basic notions of Marxist school of thought in the
literature. This is the ground which in Marxism is a base to revolt and stand against the status-
quo because that status-quo is established by the upper class, and that class would never confer
any good to the lower class but the lower class has avail the opportunity and the coup the ruling
class to establish the proletariat ruling. This is on the Marxist ground the throughout the history
upper class kept the downtrodden class in suppression. Moreover, in the following lines of the
verse there is an enormous urge of that change ‘revolution’ as:

Dhartati peay dhuddi

Kot saro tho luddi

Inqlab aendo kadhen?

Ach hali aorah men

Ker kandhi te kudi

Inqlab aendo kadhen?

(The burning earth is throbbing, all the castles are shaking; when will revolution come? Let’s
move in the depth, who may stand on the bank; when will revolution come?)

In the poem there is spontaneous urge to inflict a revolution showing the restlessness of the
motherland and the suggestion to enter in its extreme depth for the revolution is very much
enthusiastic. These kind of revolutionary slogans were chanted all over the world in twentieth
century chiefly which was the mainstream thinking of the age. This kind of revolution was no
doubt bloody and of warfare, which at Ayaz is symbolized as ‘ker kandhi te kudi’ which is not to
become as spectator but enter into the mainstream action of the revolution. Sheikh Ayaz not
only sang the songs of revolution but he also sang the class difference and the suffering of lower
class i.e. of workers and peasants in the following lines beautifully:

Ghabhi lai goula khutti des ji,

Na lola luchhain, na lolyo luchhan

(May end the search for bread of this land, neither meal may make restless nor may songs of
mother suffer in hunger)

Na pourhet badhan pet khi hean patiyon,

 Na hari kadhen rat san rej kan.

(May not workers strip their bellies in hunger nor do peasants drench their land with their blood).

Mentioned couplets show the condition of labourers and farmers in the country which is
clear depiction of class difference where rich people not only capitalist of fuedalsit class is
depicted which is particular to the socity of Sindh/Pakistan, who have full belly and the poor
ones or lower class spends his life in stark huger and famine. From the above lines it can be
judged that the distribution of wealth is unequal thus workers strip their belly and farmers drench
their land instead of doing hard work. In other poem named ‘Mazdoor ji bar jo geet’ (The song
of labour’s son) in which a child complains against the inappropriate distribution of the wealth
and observes the extended belly of the ‘sethh’ the capitalist, and the working hands of his father.
The ‘sethh’ has evil intentions in his mother and he remembers the stolen bread and the worst
consequences of hunger. This clearly depicts the eternal conflicts on not only economic grounds
but also on social. Socially the conflicting classes are never equal, because in Ayaz’s view upper
class tries to cheat the lower class on social frentic way as well, which is reasonable gap o fight
against the classed societies to establish Marxist classless society. By the same way in another
poem named ‘Thari Baar Jo Geet’, (The song of Thari Child) in which a child cries for the piece
of meal while observing the half moon matching with half meal. In the actual words of Ayaz;

Aa gidri ji phar aman!

Aj poro nahin chand- Asan khi bukh be dhadhi lagi aa….

There are several poems in his poetry depicting the vivid picture of hunger and exploitation of
the feudalism and capitalism in the society. These poems not only depict the pictures of
inappropriateness’ but also suggest standing against the status-quo to challenge the authority
which is also an important criterion of Marxist literary approach. Shaikh Ayaz expresses his
views being a first person in the following couplet as:

Baghi aahian, baghi aahiahn, tunhjo aey samaj:

To saan wirhandi rahendi munhji har hik rat phuri.

(I am rebel of the exploiting society; every drop of my blood will be fighting against it) In the
lines the poet challenges directly the status-quo and stands as a revolutionary for the cause of
right till the last. Not only this but Ayaz challenges the authority altogether on Marxist
nationalism as;

Sahndo ker mayar ao yar!

Sindhri te sir kern a dendo?

(Who would not give up his head for this land of Sindh? Who would be stigmatized for that?)
This was composed when there was ‘one unit’ in Pakistan during the government of Field
Martial Ayub khan in Pakistan in which the provincial recognition was denied. This was the
strongest inspiring song for the nationalism which is an important factor to establish nationalism.
It led him to imprisonment and the ban on his books. But Ayaz continued to affirm “Sindh” to
his land instead of the high price saying as:

Sindhri tunhjo naoo wato

Jan karehar te per payao.

(Sindh land! pronouncing your name is like treading black poisonous snake)

Moreover, when there was a military action in 1971, he challenged the authority and stood
against that and was dubbed as a traitor. In the following lines he propounds the experiences as;

Aaon Akilo samhoon sath

Khanjar khanjar keai hath

(I alone, against a throng and everyone have a dagger in hands)

Aaon akilo, korr katak

Moon lai koi langh na lakk.

(I alone, against a liar group; no way out, nor freedom for me)
 In the above lines there is the clear concept of challenging authority and facing such
difficulties which show the Marxist approach in his vision and thought. Because according to
Marxist ideology, the minority organized group of lower class will incur the revolutionary steps
initially and that step historically appeared tortuous and blood-shedding. Not only so, but Ayaz
also directly mentioned the revolutionaries like Chi Guevara, Fidel Castro, Mao ze Dong etc. In
the following poem he appreciates the struggle of Chi and his lofty death as;

Jahin azad guzariyo aahi

Tehen lai mout ta ka shae nahi

Wikh wikh te panjour disse, chha

Shenhen kadhen gajgore chhadi aa?

Sari umer ghulami ji khan

Azadi pal ji be chagi aa.

(One who spent his life at liberty, for him death is nothing. On the every step seeing the trap may
tiger not roar? Instead of living whole the life in slavery, it is better to live for a while free).

This interpreted point of liberty is the main theme in Marxist thought which establishes the
individualistic and collective voice to defy the imperial aggression and exploiting powers in
favor of lower class. Furthermore it supports the adventurous spirit of struggle for independence
of one’s beloved land and for ending the cruelty of upper class. Chi was symbolized as the
character of fighting against the foreign domination. In this way, the nations or oppressed
peoples can make their history independently, without any suppressing powers. And he called
the Fidel Castro, the Cuban president and the Marxist proponent as the history in the following
lines:

Key manho tarekh thean tha

Ghayal dharti ji seni ji

 Aehri gaheri cheekh thean tha

Ja har kanhen khi jagai thee

Ja dunya khi badlai thee

(Some people have to become ‘history’, in chest of wounded land they become such a scream
that makes everyone awake and changes the world as whole).

Those individualists were idolized as the main stirring factors to bring a Marxist
revolution, to wage a war against cruelty, to upheaval the voice against the inequality of the
social order and exterminate the upper class bourgeois to establish classless society.

Conclusion

It can verily be concluded that Shaikh Ayaz not only seems to be immersed in the Marxist
approach in literature but also declares himself as the revolutionary poet of the age by poetry. He
seeks the salvation of the so-called inapt wealth distribution and injustice in Marxist perspective
and in result suggests to challenge the current status-quo and bring about a revolution to change
the world altogether. He does not seem to live in the society which is not based on the principles
of Marxism and intends for that end to the last drop of his blood. He appreciates the rebellious
characters and praises their follow-up on footing the Marxist ideology.

References

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Fields Publications

Ayaz, S. (1989). Wijoon wasan aayon (Shairey). Tando Wali Muhammad Hyderabad Sindh:
New Fields Publications

Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory; an introduction to literary and cultural theory.

Manchester: University Press

Bertens, H. (2001). Literary theory, the basics. Tailor & Francis Books Ltd
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New York: Routledge

Dalahoyde M. (n.d). An Introduction to literary criticism. Retrieved on 25-12-2007

http://www.wsu.edu/~dalahoyde/lit.crit.html

Eagelton, T. (1983). Literary theory; an introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd

Farrukhi, A. (2001). The storm’s call for prayer. Oxford: University Press

Gray, M. (1994). A dictionary of literary terms 2nd ed. New York: Longman press

http://www.usindh.edu.pk/shaikh_ayaz_conf_07/abstracts/jheto_lalwani.pdf

Palmer, D.D. (1998). Structuralism and Post structuralism for beginners. New York:

http://www.wsu.edu/~dalahoyde/lit.crit.html

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http://www.osl.cs.usiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/res

Lalwani, J. (n.d). The great poet of Sindh; Sheikh Ayaz.

http://www.usindh.edu.pk/shaikh_ayaz_conf_07/abstracts/jheto_lalwani.pdf.

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